Sallyportal: Madly Blogging Reed

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Deal Faster, Cried the Losers

By Brandon Hamilton '11

No one likes to lose, and when the cost of defeat is an entire year's worth of timê, the stakes are high.

Continuing a long tradition, classmates sat down at the poker table in the Capehart room at Centennial Reunions to indulge in a little exercise in combinatorics.

Making Waves: Alumni Generate Mini Tsunami

Never underestimate the power of Reedies. At a Centennial Reunions class on Thursday, June 9, I learned firsthand that all we need to create a tidal wave in our very own sports center swimming pool is two dozen Reedies and a leader with an understanding of classical physics.

Okay, perhaps "tidal" is a bit of an exaggeration of the wave's size. But it's no overstatement to say that we managed to slosh water out of both ends of the pool by doing nothing more than hopping in and out of the shallow end at the direction of Brad Wright '61. Brad gave an explanation of the physics of wave-making before the experiment began (here is an extended version of the video above, complete with full scientific explanation). I confess that between the poor acoustics of the pool deck and the anticipation of jumping in the water, most of the science to passed me by. I can tell you that coordination of the physics of the event required someone to stand at the pool's edge swinging the so-called Pendulum of Destiny, a group of four rubber duckies with a golf balls attached to their bases floating in the middle of the pool, and our willingness to hop in when the wave was at its highest point only to hop back out each time it ebbed to its lowest.

Rugby: Eighties vs. The World!

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Brandon Hamilton '11

It's an ancient debate--are youth and speed a match for age and guile? At Centennial Reunions, Reedies traded eye goggles for mouth guards and lab coats for cleats to settle the question on the pitch as alumni from the eighties (the "First Fifteen") faced off against younger grads for a little post-thesis physics experiment.

At the Helm: Bragdon, Koblik, Diver

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By Ethan Knudson '11

Reed presidents past and present Paul Bragdon [1971-88], Steve Koblik [1992-2001], and Colin Diver [2002-] held a panel at Centennial Reunions to discuss how they surmounted immense challenges to preserve Reed College amidst financial and national turmoil (video).

A Song of Two Syllabi with Prof. Wally Englert

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The first lines of Homer's Iliad reverberated to the carved rafters of the chapel on Friday as Reedies of all generations were reunited in the shared experience of reliving their first Hum lecture during Centennial Reunions. However, there was a twist. On the back of the lecture handout (distributed by a beaming President Colin Diver, who marched up and down the aisles brandishing copies) was a timeline that began, not in Greece, but in Egypt. And the Homeric epic of choice for the semester was not the tale of Achilleus and his anger, but that of Odysseus and his quest to return home. As professor Wally Englert [classics 1981-] explained, the Hum syllabus has undergone some significant changes in the past year...

"We used to say 'The Greeks were strange,'" Englert noted, while discussing the inclusion of new material from other Mediterranean cultures on the reading list, "But I'm going to do something a little radical here and say: Ancient cultures were strange."

Olde Reed: Was It Better?

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It's a cry familiar to freshmen from every decade of Reed's existence: "You're doing what? Hah! Back at Olde Reed..."

Yes, it's Olde Reed! That elusive golden age in which classes were harder, Renn Fayres were crazier, laurels were shinier, and hijinks were, er, jinkier. Olde Reed was always dead by your freshman year, unless you are telling the story, in which case it was dead by your listeners' freshman year. It was epic, it was extraordinary, and it was, in whatever indescribable fashion, better.

From Prometheus to Pork Shoulder

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Steven Raichlen '75 knows more about barbeque than Prometheus knew about fire. His stat sheet includes 26 books, five James Beard Awards, three IACP awards, a PBS-TV series, his own line of grilling tools, the founding of Barbeque University, a beat-down of Bobby Flay in a barbeque cook-off, a BA in French literature from Reed, and his liver has never been eaten by a raptor. Not to gloat, but another advantage over Prometheus.

"I'm not a chef," Raichlen told alumni celebrating Centennial Reunions this week. "Food, for me, has always been a window into culture."

Reed Activists Stage "Sit-Down"

By Brandon Hamilton '11

Several generations of activists assembled in the Chapel to trade insights, strategies, and stories as a part of Social Justice 101, one of more than 200 events being held this week to celebrate Centennial Reunions.

Speakers ranged from Peter Bergel '65, executive director of Oregon PeaceWorks, whose self-styled "graduate education" took the form of years of living in a commune, to professor Kristi Hansen '96, an agricultural economist who teaches at the University of Wyoming.

New Mathematical Model for HIV

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By Ethan Knudson '11

Uganda 1993: Sociologist and statistician Martina Morris '80 had just presented her sophisticated mathematical model on the spread of HIV to a conference attended by African elders.

In the back, a man raised his hand and asked, "Can your models account for having more than one partner at a time?"

When Morris admitted they didn't, the man walked out.

Get Your Kicks at Reunions

Yes, there's still time.

Register for our spectacular Centennial Reunions, June 6-12. And check out a sampling of the incredible delights that await you. Rugby. Dance. Basketry. Majuscules. A HOT-AIR BALLOON. Gary Snyder '51. Eggdog. (No, not eggnog. Eggdog.) Tikkler. Davis Rogan '90 and the Allstar New Orleans Rhythm & Blues Revue. FERRIS WHEEL. Stand-up economics. Gilbert & Sullivan. Fireworks!

For more about Reunions, especially the amazing art that will be be everywhere on campus, see more on our sister blog, the Riffin' Griffin.

Let the parade begin!

There was much jubilation and noise: Friday was thesis parade.

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Congratulations to everyone completed a thesis this year. Wear your laurels with pride.

Poop Scoop

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It's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it.

On April 27 Sasha Kramer '99 returned to campus to give a talk on ecological sanitation-- the science of turning human waste (yes, we do mean poop!) into safe and sanitary fertilizer.

Calligraphy Leaps off the Page

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The greatly anticipated exhibition, Lloyd Reynolds: A Life of Forms in Art, has begun its run in the Cooley Art Gallery. Just hours after it opened, Robin Tovey '97 and I convened at the Hauser Library and headed to the gallery. An arresting exhibition poster hangs just outside, featuring an enlargement of Lloyd's piece "Calligraphy for People." It's a powerful piece--the words connect to one another through serpentine pen strokes--and aptly chosen. Lloyd, who was passionate about teaching, made this "beautiful writing" accessible to people in all walks of life, just as he made calligraphy at Reed prestigious worldwide...

The glass gallery doors carry a stenciled image of Thor's thunderbolt and Poseidon's trident, one of Lloyd's symbols that is featured in the show. Inside, we found outreach coordinator Greg MacNaughton '89, and curator Stephanie Snyder '91, along with gallery registrar Colleen Gotze, were busily putting the finishing touches on signage.

Clamoring for Elyse Fenton '03

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It was standing-room only in the psychology auditorium when poet Elyse Fenton '03 read from her award-winning collection, Clamor, on Thursday night. OK, nobody was actually standing: late arrivals sat on the floor or reclined against the wall, situational discomforts that paled in comparison to the striking corporeality of the poems we heard.

Professor Lisa Steinman, Elyse's thesis adviser, praised her aptitude for "making things that are lost or imagined real" in a warm introduction. Steinman noted with pleasure that Elyse's Reed experience is evident in her work as much through references to Orpheus and Dante as through a distinctive "physicality of language" honed by a rugby player...

Reedies explain threat from Japan's radiation release

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The alarming news coming out of Japan about potential nuclear reactor meltdowns has sparked considerable interest in Reed's research reactor. The March 17 Oregonian did a nice job of assessing the minimal risk associated with Oregon's two research reactors (Reed and OSU) in its story, "State research reactors can't melt down."

The reactor is used for experiments such as measuring the amount of specific elements in samples. A recent experiment searched shards from an ancient ceramic pot to find impurities in the clay that could help pinpoint the location where the pot was made. Using the reactor allowed researchers to identify the elements while leaving the artifact intact.

March Madness Results

The senior Griffins clinched the 2011 March Madness championship with a decisive victory over Right Bank in the final round of Reed's madcap elimination basketball tournament.

The tournament, now in its 23rd year, features teams composed of students, alumni, staff, faculty, and other life forms in various combinations. In past years, departments, dorms, and even teams from other sports have competed for the title.

This year, the alumni were represented by two teams: the House Husbands, captained by Erik Brakstad '89, mainly composed of alumni of--shall we say--antique vintage, and Right Bank, most of whom graduated in the last decade or so. In their first-round match-up, Right Bank notched a 27-17 victory over HH thanks to skillful play by Imran Ahmad '04 and generally superior conditioning...

March Madness Preview

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Game on.

Reed's annual one-of-a-kind basketball tournament is happening tonight. Started over 20 years ago by Erik Brakstad '89, the event features students, alumni, staff, and various other life forms in a bouncy, spherical celebration of America's tallest sport.

Here is the bracket as of press time:

"Redwood College" a new kind of academic fraud

Like most Americans, I am concerned about internet scoundrels who might try to steal my identity. But it never occurred to me that entire institutions could be vulnerable to identity theft.

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In the last few days, however, the Chronicle of Higher Education and the Wall Street Journal have reported on a disturbing development: an unidentified scam artist copied Reed's website to create a fictitious "University of Redwood," taking the concept of academic fraud to a whole new low.

Does College Work?

155_academically_adrift.jpgConsidering the enormous quantities of time, energy, money, and anguish that are invested in higher education in this country, you might imagine that we'd have more hard data about how well it works. Yet research on the true purpose of a college education--whether it produces an educated person--is surprisingly sparse.

A major new book on the subject--Academically Adrift, by Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa--presents plenty of data, and the conclusions aren't pretty. Approximately 45% of the undergraduates surveyed showed no improvement in their overall analytical competence after two years of college, and 36% showed no improvement after four years of college.

"Large numbers of U.S. college students can be accurately described as academically adrift. They might graduate, but they are failing to develop the higher-order cognitive skills that it is widely assumed college students should master," the authors write.

Hello, World

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When I was a freshman at Reed, professor Jean Delord [physics 1950-88] taught me some elementary computer programming. I can still remember the thrill of compiling my first snippet of code, which simply printed the immortal words "Hello, World!"

Now, many years later, the same words leap to mind as we introduce Sallyportal, a new blog hosted by Reed magazine.

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